Perspectives: “Voter Suppression” or “Election Integrity”?

Voting rights have become a hot issue in D.C. and around the country, with Republican state lawmakers seeking to pass at least 253 “election integrity” bills in 43 states while Democrats in Congress try to pass “voting rights” bills nationally. One particular hotspot is Georgia, where Republicans are pushing dozens of “election integrity” bills in a state where narrow victories in 2020 gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate. At the national level, President Joe Biden signed a “voting rights” executive order on Sunday, and Democrats in the House passed H.R. 1, a major election reform bill, on Wednesday. Voices in left-rated outlets mostly characterized Republican state bills as “voter suppression” and in some cases criticized them as racist. Voices in right-rated outlets mostly focused on Democrats’ national efforts, like H.R. 1, and criticized them as “authoritarian” and “partisan.”